Almost everyone at some point will experience the sensation of ringing in the ears. You might notice it after you’ve been at a loud concert, for example, or inside a noisy bar or club. You may also experience it after you’ve been taking an antibiotic or other type of medication for a while. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have tinnitus, though.

Tinnitus is a chronic condition characterized by a constant sensation of ringing, buzzing, whistling, hissing, humming, chirping and other noises in the ears. This isn’t something those people experience just once in a while after being in a loud area—it’s an annoying part of their everyday lives. The American Tinnitus Association’s website has a feature that allows you to get some examples of what people who suffer from the condition hear on an everyday basis.

There are many different causes of this condition, including medications that can cause nerve damage in the ear, impacted ear wax, infections in the middle ear or simple aging. The common bond between many of these issues is damage to the hair cells inside the cochlea. It’s important to note that while tinnitus may be an independent condition of its own, it could also be a symptom of more severe health problems, including Meniere’s disease, a disorder that affects the balance mechanism housed in your inner ear.

For this reason, if you’ve experienced symptoms associated with chronic tinnitus, it is important that you seek the assistance of an audiologist in California so you can get treatment and make sure that it isn’t a symptom of an even worse problem.

Managing the condition

If you know the problem that is likely to have caused your tinnitus, then you should be able to reduce some of your symptoms associated with the condition. A buildup of ear wax can be solved with a flush at the doctor’s office. If you grind your teeth at night, a mouth guard can help prevent those issues.

There are other strategies you can implement to cut down on the constant noise. Masking the noise, for example, won’t necessarily solve the problem of the ringing in your ears, but it will at least cut down the nuisance associated with it. You could have a radio, fan or white noise machine going in the background. You can also use hearing aids that generate some white noise that will cancel out the buzzing.

Make sure that any treatment you select will be covered by your insurance. Unfortunately, not all types of insurance policies will fully cover the various treatments available for tinnitus, so the method you use for managing the condition will depend in large part on how much coverage is available to you for treating the condition.

For more information about tinnitus, its causes and the best strategies you can use for managing it in your everyday life, we encourage you to visit Valley Hearing Center – Salinas for an appointment with an audiologist in California. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you have for us!